Comelec junks poll case vs Marinduque lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines - A former congressman and son of a Supreme Court (SC) justice lost his plea with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) seeking for the annulment of the proclamation of his opponent in the congressional race in Marinduque.

The Comelec’s First Division junked the petition filed by former congressman Lord Allan Jay Velasco, son of Justice Presbitero Velasco, against elected Marinduque Rep. Regina Reyes.

Two division members, Commissioners Christian Robert Lim and Al Parreño, overruled their chairman, Commissioner Lucenito Tagle, who was in favor of the cancellation of Reyes’ proclamation.

Velasco filed the petition after the Comelec disqualified Reyes for allegedly failing to renounce her American citizenship, which the congresswoman denied. The SC later upheld her disqualification.

Lim and Parreño, the newest members of the poll body, held in separate opinions that since the new Marinduque representative has already been proclaimed, has taken her oath before Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and has assumed office, the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) has acquired jurisdiction over her case.

They invoked a provision in the Constitution, which mandates that the electoral tribunals of the Senate and the House “shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of their respective members.”

Parreño disagreed with Tagle that for the Comelec to lose jurisdiction over a lawmaker’s case, the legislator must have been proclaimed, must have taken his oath and must have assumed office or started his term.

However, he said in several cases cited by his division chairman, the SC “did not expressly state that these three conditions must concur before the Comelec is divested of jurisdiction.”

He said in the case of Camarines Norte’s Liwayway Vinzons-Chato and Renato Unico, the high court ruled that the Comelec “has already lost jurisdiction over Chato’s petition because respondent Unico has already been proclaimed and taken his oath of office as a member of the House of Representatives.”

He said though some rulings were contradictory, the predominant opinion was that “proclamation alone is enough to divest the commission (Comelec) of its jurisdiction” on elected lawmaker’s cases.

He also held that the provincial board of canvassers did not abuse its discretion in proclaiming Reyes.

Meanwhile, the SC decision dismissing the petition filed by Reyes to nullify the disqualification ruling against her has been met with dissensions from several magistrates.

Last month, the SC voted 7-4 to dismiss Reyes’ petition questioning a Comelec ruling that cancelled her certificate of candidacy. 

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Mariano del Castillo, Lucas Bersamin, Roberto Abad, Jose Perez and Bienvenido Reyes agreed with the Comelec findings and junked Reyes’ petition for lack of merit.              

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justice Arturo Brion, Mario Victor Leonen and Martin Villarama Jr. dissented, saying the petition must not be junked instantly as the SC should first seek the Comelec’s comment before ruling on the case.           – With Paolo Romero